The invention relates to apparatus for treatment of contaminated waste, and more particularly relates to apparatus for treating medical waste with disinfectant to destroy bacteria and the like.
Land area for the disposal of waste material has become exceedingly scarce, and hazardous waste handling laws have become more stringent. Incineration systems for treating contaminated waste generate unwanted air pollutants while the overall decontamination effectiveness of the costly autoclaving process is questionable. An effective, efficient, and environmentally benign means to decontaminate infectious solid waste is therefore needed. This is particularly true of medical waste which is contaminated with bacteria and the like.
Heretofore, waste treatment systems employing chemical disinfectants direct particulate waste and disinfecting solution into a containing tank where the disinfectant works to decontaminate the waste. Waste particulate settles to the bottom of the containing tank gradually accumulating over a period of time. Eventually the waste particulate is manually removed from the tank by the operator. An example of such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,409.
The extent to which the removal of decontaminated particulate waste is performed by human intervention is related to the safety of the operator controlling and managing the system.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved waste treatment system which decontaminates waste.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a waste treatment system which retains and continually agitates waste in disinfecting solution for a pre-determined amount of decontamination time in an environmentally benign manner.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a waste treatment system which continuously separates waste from disinfectant thereby eliminating the need for dredging a containing tank.